Spaced Out — Spaced Out ( DVD)
From the very tail end of the 1970’s Spaced Out is a cheap ‘n’ cheerful enough British sci-fi sex comedy. It’s one of the lesser-seen films of London-born director Norman J Warren- who will be known to 70’s euro fare for films like Satan’s Slave ( 1976), Prey (1977) which features two of the cast from this film, and Terror (1978). Here from the fine folk at Cheezy Films is a well-deserved region-free DVD release of the film.
Spaced Out ( aka Outer Touch) appeared in the year 1979- when sadly the Uk film industry was staggering on its last legs. It was Warren's sixth feature film- appearing in between the already mentioned Terror & the entertaining Alien rip-off Inseminoid( 1981). And while it clearly has a shoelace budget- Spaced Out is a competently made film, with a good enough cast for this type of thing, a few light laughs/ chuckles, and brief flashes of mainly female nudity.
The film kicks off by introducing us to a series of characters in a UK park- we have the planning-to-get-married/ live together couple- posh & polite Oliver( Barry Stokes) and Prudence(Lynne Ross) who is obsessed with wallpaper/ furnishing, and won’t let the sexual frustrated Oliver get his end away. There peeping tom/ middle age dog walker Cliff(Michael Rowlatt). And lastly short, geeky, and bespectacled supermarket self-stacker Willy(Tony Maiden)- who when we first meet him he’s looking at dirty mags in a shed in the park.
All of a sudden there’s a blinding light above the park, Willy momently thinks he lost his sight from what he was doing. As Oliver, Prudence, and Cliff gather together to find out what has landed in the park- with all four making their way to the side of a big light-lined UFO. Inside is a three-women crew- who come from a planet where there are no men. We have dressed in black leather, smoking a cigar, and bossy Skipper(Kate Ferguson). She is joined by her slightly dippy assistant/ ships scientists Cosia( Glory Annen), and ships bulging boobed engineer Partha(Ava Cadell).
The group of four earth folk go onto the ship- and we get all manner of innuendo fuelled asides, comments regarding male members, and bickering between Oliver & Prudence. Fairly soon the ship is taking off- with the male guests being asked to do a series of tests- which of course involve some nudity.
The ‘ship’ itself is clearly made of shiver-spayed bits and bobs, with levels & flashing lights- with things falling off the set often, but this is effectively written off by the rather camp male ships computer voice- he is always telling the crew the ship is on it’s last legs. The only other character we have is the voice of an intergalactic therapist who talks from within an old jukebox- when the earthlings put in money.
Spaced Out is a fairly standard British sex comedy of this time, and as you often get with this genre is not terribly sexy, and only lightly funny. But do have a soft spot for the genre in general, and this is a good but not great example the British sex comedy.
The cast is good enough for this type of thing- both Stokes & Annen were in Warren’s when an alien crashes in the English countryside horror of Prey, and it’s nice to see them again. Stokes had form in a few other sex comedies The Up’s And Downs Of A Handy Man (1985), and Fanny Hill( 1983). Though I’d say the most effective/ memorable acting comes from Maiden who plays the awkwardly charming geek of the piece- this was sadly his only feature-length part- with his other eight credits being in UK TV.
Moving onto this new region free DVD release of the film. And we get a fairly good clean & unblemished print- I’m not sure if there has been any remastering done here, as most Cheezy film releases are old/ often VHS print. But this certainly is one of the better of seen from the company- so no complaints from me. The release is a bare-bones affair- with just a trailer reel.
After being a Norman J Warren for the last twenty years or so- it certainly is great to see this film, though I can’t say it will appeal to his normal horror audience. But if like me you have a penchant for British sex comedies of the 70’s & 80’s – this is most certainly worth picking up. And let us hope Cheezy Films has some more lesser-known examples of the genre for reissue in the near future.